Hello my friend,

Does every little inconvenience, unexpected expense, obstacle, delay, and detour cause a freakout? Do you anticipate disasters before you’re sure if they’re even going to happen?

It’s a funny thing when we start to notice the correlation between stress and reaction time. If we’re always on edge, we react immediately. If our reaction time is in milliseconds, we’re always very high-strung and stressed. We lack a great deal of mindfulness and presence. If we panic about things that may or may not happen in the future, we’re living in panic mode before there’s any reason to panic.

If we react after a few seconds or minutes, we’re very calm. If we never react, and simply respond with wisdom and presence, we’re practically enlightened.

The reactions I am talking about don’t refer to physical reactions. Sometimes we do need to jump into action. The kinds that cause us stress are mental and biological reactions — a thoughtstorm of fear and panic and pressure, tension in the body, clenched fists and jaws, anxiety, or anger.

If we can pause, take a breath, and slow down our reactions, life becomes infinitely more peaceful. How long can you stay in the moment before reacting? Can you extend a microsecond into a few seconds? A minute into 5 minutes? We all can.

Everything we do, even handling emergencies, can be done relaxed, loose, confidently, optimistically, and joyfully. In fact, they get done even better and in a way that preserves your energy and sanity.

When we react instantaneously, we react unconsciously. Unmindfully. Our bodies take over, not our higher wisdom. Whatever we do, we do it with stress and fear. We do it with a certainty about an unknown situation and an unknown future. And our stressed energy often ends up creating a stressful outcome.

Not everything is an emergency. Not everything requires you to be on high alert. Only when you are free from mental reaction can you start to listen to, and trust, your higher self to know what a situation requires from you. Becoming consumed by panic, worry, fear, and anger never helped anything.

Make your mantra, “We’ll see,” and see how life can go from chaotic to peaceful.

Love,

Todd